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Krista Kacey on The Benefits Of Video Marketing

I have a cool guest who I know personally. We’re part of the BMG group in Salt Lake City and her name is Krista Kacey. She’s the owner of Ignite Studios in Salt Lake City. Ignite Studios is a full-service film and audio studio known for being the most soundproof studio in the state. She’s an award-winning public speaker, a personable teacher, a professional editor with a degree in communications-journalism and the mother of four children. Krista has spent several years in Asia working at the University in Mainland China. She speaks Chinese. She’s doing business in Taiwan and Thailand, capitalizing on her entrepreneurial spirit. She’s currently running speech and debate camps in China for English speaking students who aspire to study in the US. As a lifelong learner, Krista has a constant thirst for knowledge and is passionate about sharing what she’s learned from others. Welcome, Krista.

Thanks, Juliet. It’s nice to be here with you.

Can you speak Chinese and do they speak Chinese in Thailand? What do they speak in Thailand?

They speak Thai and I love it. I spoke that for a few years and got excited about Thai over Chinese. I tried to push my Chinese aside and then eventually I had to bring it back. I’m working on reclaiming my language there.

I barely speak Spanish. You’re trilingual. That’s impressive. Krista, you’re going to share with us some video tips because many people are doing video marketing and not doing it well.

They need to be. We know how essential it is for marketing. You understand this well and the desire for consumers to watch something as opposed to read something.

What are the benefits of video marketing over non-video marketing?

There are many. The stats are overwhelming for video and when you think about it, it makes sense because we have a decreased attention span time. We have many opportunities to sit and watch videos, whether it’s on your phone outside of the office or at home. There are many places where picking up a book might be a little trickier. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a car and had somebody sitting there watching a video or have been tempted yourself. Sometimes I will put something on YouTube before I leave, whether it’s a videocast or something else. Rather than watch it as I’m driving, I can listen. Even if you’re getting the audio off of that, it can be important. There are many platforms for video and there’s social media marketing. The stats are quite astounding for conversion rates for marketers who use video and such, it’s important. As far as conversion rates, 70% of the marketers report that video converts better than any other medium. Get your videos going and you will see that you have 60% more qualified leads. There’s so much opportunity for video. That’s what it comes down to.

There definitely is. When we put together landing pages for our clients for sales, we always tell them to go out and get video testimonials. Having a written testimonial, you can’t see the energy of that person and how excited they are about what they’re doing. It’s hard to communicate that passion that you have for something within writing a lot of times unless you’re an amazing writer, which I know I’m not. Video works a lot better with it.

Being an amazing writer is necessary in terms of your content creation for video. It has its place, but in terms of watching a video, users will spend 88% more time on a website with videos. When you put on your landing pages, you are going to attract and keep those qualified customers that you want anyway, those who will convert.

Sound needs, you have a studio and I hear it all the time. I even had this with my own podcast where before I was using a good microphone, the sound was muffled. You could hear background noise. What about the sound on videos? How can you cut all that down and how does the studio help because you do video inside of studios?

This is my favorite part of having a studio. The fact that I can see and hear and show a difference with the sound there. In our particular studio, we spent over $100,000 soundproofing it. When you walk in, that’s the number one thing that producers will notice. They will say, “This is tight.” It is soundproof. With quality equipment, you can take it far but only if you’re using quality equipment in a professional sound studio. That sound is everything. My producers talk about that all the time. You can have bad video and you can cover it with great sound, but you can’t do the reverse. If you’re watching a video and you notice that there’s a blurring or something like that but the sound is high quality, you automatically think, “That was a special effect that they’ve added to the video.” If you have a professionally produced podcast, you attract those people that you want to attract as your guests. Therefore, you will get the sponsors for the podcast.

That is such a big thing that all of us are out there looking for sponsors for our shows. When you sound proof that studio, I want you to describe what that is like. I know that I have the anti-soundproof here because I have hardwood floors, I have windows and I have everything I’m not supposed to have. What do you need to do to soundproof? What do you need to do to make that difference?

I wish I knew all of the technicalities of that, but I know that it started from the inside out. All of the walls and the paneling within them. You’re talking about those things that are hardwood and such that reverberate. There can be none of that. Every wall and all the decor inside the recording rooms themselves have to be something that doesn’t detract from the sound panels. They will test all of the different levels and notice what our ambient sounds in there. Cheap microphones we will do that as well. You have to have the professional equipment in with the professional soundproofing of it. That’s as far as our podcasts are involved. We also have our sound stage, that’s the big video recording rooms with the sidewalls and such. To soundproof that, we have to completely draw the curtains around, which are expensive and heavy panel curtains that you can tell a complete difference. You can talk from one end of the other in the room and notice how quiet it is.

Video Marketing: You can have lousy video and cover it with excellent sound, but you can’t do the reverse.

I did my podcast once from a hotel room that was carpeted, the blinds were drawn and it was completely different before I got a good microphone. It’s important to have those soft surfaces around when you’re doing all this so that the sound quality does come out good. What are the typical obstacles when people are putting a video together?

There are many. A lot of times people think, and this is what we’re up against. Grab your iPhone, make a video and go for it. There are many great ways to do that on different phones with inexpensive cameras available that make it possible to do a good video. It’s true, you can get a lot of quality out of that, but it only takes you far. That’s the difficulty of explaining to people when they want something produced, what the difference is. Until you see it, until you produce a video, you can completely see the difference between a professionally produced. What it comes down to a lot of times for people is having the resources, having those cameras available to them or the money to do something like that and time.

We were able to put all of that together in a package in our studio. Outside of the studio, you can do some great things on location if you’re able to rent equipment or get your buddy to come and film with his great camera. Sometimes it comes down to that. For me, within the studio, the restrictions that we see are people who want efficiency. Production can be expensive, but it’s also time-consuming. Time is money. When they come into the studio and can produce a video quickly, that’s where there’s a win. That’s what we’re trying to do, implement a program that will roll out in time as we evolve this that allows people to get into production and quickly get out quickly. I think that’s the benefit.

Wherever you can do that and make your time efficient. People are having real success with doing videos in efficient ways within their own homes or wherever they need to. You do it wherever you can. As long as you get something up there to start and then you elevate your game with professional space and professional equipment. Start somewhere because you will see a response. You can grow your revenue 49% faster with video. If you are tackling it little by little, you will eventually see that people are paying attention and you will continue to gather the audience that you desire within your niche.

I want to share a little bit. I did a professional shoot in San Diego and when people saw the videos on my landing pages, a couple of them reached out and said, “This is a total game changer for you.” There was a lot to do with that. I had to bring a couple of different outfits and makeup. Make sure when you get that package to have professional makeup artists. The script goes on a teleprompter and it has to be authentic. Otherwise, it’s you reading, which is awkward. I will share a story.

We had some people do a shoot for a landing page and the guy was standing there looking down at the teleprompter reading, not engaging at all. It was funny because the video team warned us, “We’ve edited this as much as we can. It’s bad.” When I look back at it, it’s because he didn’t have a professional write a script that matched his personality. It seemed stiff and awkward with it. What else do you need besides those things that I talked about when you go out on a professional studio shoot?

What you brought up is important. You need great people and you need a comfort zone. When you are recording and you’re outside of your comfort zone or outside your space, whether it’s because of the content or how you’re feeling about being on film, you can’t hide that. There’s no crawling under the rock there. The people around can set the stage for that. I noticed when I worked with good producers and directors, how they set people at ease. They can always tell when somebody’s reading from the teleprompter. There’s a little eye flick and they will notice that or when their eyes are too glaring right at the camera.

There’s a need to feel natural in order to look natural. It comes down to sounding good and excited about what you’re talking about. A lot of it is getting comfortable with yourself, getting comfortable with the scripts, the content but also with the people you’re working with. That’s a big deal. As far as looking good on film, make-up artists go a long way. I have experienced doing that as well. A lot of people underestimate the value of looking good. It can be distracting if you’re staring at somebody. You’ve done this, you’ve brought somebody on TV and you’re picking at something on their face.

I watched a show where I could see that they had blended something in. You could see a line around in the area. It was crazy because you do stare like, “I don’t care what they’re saying. I’m going to look at that.”

A few more tips there for make-up artists that I can give you as well. That is to avoid anything shiny on your face as you’re on film. Anything with SPF will create that reflect that you don’t want. That we powder people up, but also there are makeups that are made that the film will pull out the green on the face. If you don’t want to look green, be selective about your products. Make sure that you have products that have been reviewed for film and that you look good in that way. Some of it is taking care of shine and making sure that you’re cleaned up there. Feel good about yourself because if you do, then you will look better. You’re not worried about it. You’re not picking at something on your face, which people tend to do. If they’re conscious about something, if you have something in your teeth, immediately you start feeling picking around. Having somebody else there to watch and make sure that last looks are done and that you look great as well.

We had a hair and makeup person and she would get in between takes of it and put my hair back too. I don’t know why my hair kept coming out.

It’s her job to make sure that everyone is in place.

One aspect that I found important of the studio experience was the script. I went in with my own script, totally had it written and the producer was amazing. He took it and he’s like, “No, that doesn’t sound snappy.” He rewrote it on the spot and then put it into the teleprompter. It was a huge help. It was snappier. I tend to be serious unless you let me be me. I felt like he caught the essence of me. That’s an important piece of it as well, being able to perform that script.

Whether it’s because of practice or because you understand the message that you’re given, it doesn’t matter if you can present to authentically, you will sound and look good and people will watch. It used to be the idea that you had to be perfect on film. That you needed to be perfect in your podcast. You have to say things right. That is not the case. We connect more with people who are authentic. If you can embrace your own imperfections, we’re not talking about producing a professional video, that’s an ad or something like that. We still have a tendency to want those to be perfect. When you are filming for your own branding, it’s more important to be authentic and that means making mistakes, show your flaws, and embrace them. Then we can connect. We don’t understand people who are perfect because none of us feels like that.

Video Marketing: A lot of people underestimate the value of looking good.

Back when I was in advertising, we did car commercials. When you see what goes into something like that and the perfection, everybody thinks, “It’s cool.” No, it’s not cool. They do the same thing 100 times to get it right. That’s not what we want to see from people around us. It’s not real or even pretending to be someone else. That’s a huge one too. I’ve seen people take scripts off somebody’s website and try to make them their own. The delivery doesn’t come off the same. You have to be you on those.

It’s not internalized. We tend to think that perfection is what we want to share and I don’t know why. If we’re being entertained, it’s a different story. If it’s an ad, a car commercial or something you want to look good or we are picking at it, we think it sounds like a video from a third world country, which you can tell the difference on. We want those to look and sound good and professional. When it comes to you though and you’re putting yourself out there, you’re marketing yourself, whether it’s your training videos or whatever you’re offering, you can be you and it’s okay.

Where can we find Ignite at?

We have a physical facility. That’s fun to welcome you in. We can give tours and let you see what we have going on there and especially connect with you personally. That’s why I’m in the business, I love people, I love your stories and I love to help you get them out there. We are located at 1005 South 300 West in Salt Lake City. We’re also online at IgniteStudios.com and our Facebook is growing, Ignite Studios Facebook page. We have to be out there and we’re going to continue to push. We’ve launched and are trying to grow at an appropriate pace. Facebook is one where I was going to add, 100 million hours of video per day are watched on Facebook.

I know, that’s where I do most of my videos, it’s Facebook Live within my group. Let’s talk about that a little bit. How can they spiff those up and do them well?

Here’s what’s interesting too. They’re not typically watched with sounds. When you’re scrolling down, you will see videos and a lot of times they’re transcribed and you’ve seen that at the bottom. You have the subtitles and you can watch, but you’re not actually watching or listening to anything. People will scroll fast and you have to do something that catches their attention within the first three seconds. In order to spiff that up, be creative and get something out there that that looks and sounds, it doesn’t have to sound great initially, but it has to look and be visually capturing. Make sure that the content on that is good enough to keep interest. If they’re watching a face and you can think about that without sound and words going by, it’s not interesting. Even if it’s you and you’re filming something on your iPhone and you’re walking around and you’re giving a tour or something, people sit and watch that without sound. I thought that was fascinating. Sound is not all there is on Facebook video. That needs to be good content.

I always tell my people, you need to sit down and plan out the content, keep welcoming people, take breaks in it. My understanding is that if it’s on your personal page, you have an audience and you can draw it out, Facebook will reward you with an extra audience. If you can have that topic, jump into a little bit of it, take time, welcome people on and then recap. Jump into a little more and welcome more people on, you can be effective at having a good Facebook Live running ten to twenty minutes. Will people watch it for that long? Probably people will hop on and off, but Facebook looks at those stats of how much traffic is coming into it.

If they’re already engaged with you, they will keep watching if there is some reason for them to. Not only will they keep watching, but you will have gathered the niche that you want, those people who will convert. It’s not a bad test. You don’t need your video being a boost to all kinds of people who will never care. That’s what Facebook is getting good at and all the platforms that put their algorithms together, they do it for a reason.

Facebook wants to make money off of it. I don’t know many people who get many conversions from those boosts. They have tightened up a lot of the data points on Facebook. I don’t know anybody who’s getting a good return from Facebook ads at all.

It’s always a little bit tricky. You have to have someone who knows who a great brand or marketer like yourself is figuring out what the needs are for people and how they’re going to get their message across in a way that sticks.

I don’t think it’s Facebook ads. I’m not a big proponent of them. Thank you so much, Krista. I appreciate you taking the time. There is a podcast event coming up at Ignite Studios in June 14th and 15th. Krista has partnered up with Tracy Hazzard, which I know a lot of you know. She’s a big podcaster and they’re going to be putting this workshop together. It’s going to be fairly low cost and you can look around the studio if you’re in the Salt Lake area and check out how to get a podcast going fairly inexpensive.

That’s going to be a fun event. I look forward to having a lot of people there who have been excited about doing podcasts. People approach me all the time and say, “I’ve always wanted to do it, but I don’t know where to start.” That’s what Tracy’s excellent at. It’s helping you get your start and feel like you can be successful. It’s not because you get to know everything and you don’t need to know everything. You just know what you’re good at and then the rest is going to be taken care of for you in terms of getting out there and making it successful and optimized in every way.

I have clients of my own who have come in with podcasts and they’re in places that they shouldn’t be. They’ve given their content away. They’ve done a lot of funky things. It’s great to learn how to do it right. Thank you very much. I appreciate you coming on.

You’re welcome. Thank you so much for having me. It’s been fun.

Important Links:

• Ignite Studios
• Ignite Studios Facebook
• Tracy Hazzard
• www.IgniteStudios.com

About Krista Kacey

Krista Kacey is the owner of Ignite Studios in Salt Lake City, UT–a full-service film and audio studio, known for being the most sound-proof studio in the state. She is an award-winning public speaker, a personable teacher, a professional editor with a degree in Communications, Journalism, and a mother of four children. Krista spent several years in Asia, working at a university in Mainland China, then doing business in Taiwan and Thailand, capitalizing on her entrepreneurial spirit. She is currently running speech and debate camps in China for English-speaking students who aspire to study in the U.S. As a lifelong learner, Krista has a constant thirst for knowledge and is passionate about sharing what she has learned with others.

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